Doxa Deo ontbreek. Skreeu u siel om God te sien?

The Apostle Paul gives us tonight a different perspective. In verse 23 we read not only of sins, but we also read about that which we lack and need ... the glory of God. The doxa Deo. What do we understand by the glory of God? What do we lack? The glory of God refers to all His attributes. It refers to the sum total of all that God is ... not just his justice, but also His creative power, His beauty, his love, his wisdom, not just the blossoming Christ on the cross, but also the empty tomb. Then I still haven't said nearly enough. How do you define beauty? You can see, hear or experience it. But to describe the word beauty in words, is almost impossible. Likewise with the understanding of God's glory. Maybe we can start to explain it by comparing it with the biblical word, holy. What is the difference between the holiness of God and the glory of God? Let's go to Isaiah six, to that famous vision of the Prophet when he found himself before the thrice holy God. One seraph called to the other: Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts. What does it mean when they ceaselessly cry Holy, Holy, Holy? It means God that God in his perfection, in his greatness and in his value ... is completely in a class of His own. (Isa 46: 5) He is incomparable. We can say, by way of distinction: God is inherently holy, inherently holy, inherently holy and his glory is the manifestation of that holiness. By showing His glory, we get to know his absolute holiness. The glory of God is the infinite greatness of the multiple things, in which He is perfect. And we're missing it. We lack that insight. In our state of sin we are hopelessly deficient In what way do I lack it? We have to go back to the Old Testament, after creation, after Génesis one, where the triune God confronts Himself: Let us make people in our image, according to our parable (Génesis 1:26). Something of God is depicted in the created man. Something of the Almighty is made visible to man ... without being equal to God. The creature that reflects God's image has now been created. On the sixth day God saw that everything He has made, was very good, but on the seventh day Adam was with him to see it all ... That day Adam begins to reflect the image of God, to see what He sees and experiences from God ... to bounce it off. On that day, the first person sings: The high heaven tells with glad mouth ... God's glory and honor! (Psalm 19, 1 ). The heavens proclaim the glory of God. Very loud and clear, without any doubt we are called. The clouds call to us. The blue infinity above calls to us. The golden sunsets call to us. We are called by stars and galaxies. Just open your eyes people! That's God's glory ... and the better you know God, you more you will experience Him. God's invisible things can from the creation of the world understood and clearly seen in his works, namely, His eternal power and divinity (Romeine 1:20). But our own foolish wisdom changed the glory of the imperishable God ... Change in the similarity of the image the image of a transient person and image of birds and four-legged and creeping animals (Romeine 1:23). So, instead that I delight in God's glory ... instead that I reflect His glory ... I seek glory in other created things ... around me ... even here among me. Pathetic. Now I lack the glory of God. My foolish heart is darkened. There is a curtain in front of my soul. The pure brilliance of soul is now so stained so blurred, tackled this way, like a silver cup buried for centuries. The true believer, is looking for it, look for the that ability that the first human had to experience his Creator in full glory and to reflect that glory itself. If you want to understand the essence of humanity's problem and God's answer to that, read the letter to the Romans. After nearly two thousand years, this letter, like the rest of the Bible, has resisted the test of time, and it only shines with urgent topicality today. Paul, the slave of Jesus Christ, had an intention to visit the Christians in Rome. For several reasons it was not possible and therefore he wrote to them a letter ... a remarkable letter. This letter explains the main doctrines of what he calls the Good News. The letter to the Romans would later become the fundamental document of the Christian doctrine. position: 514